Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Insanely Complete Robot/Foundation Fiction List

As I've noted before, my major claim to fame on the internet is a list of all the stories in Isaac Asimov's positronic robot/Foundation timeline (both by Asimov himself and by other writers) that I first posted on Usenet back in 1998, and which was picked up by Ed Seiler for his Isaac Asimov Home Page. Oddly, though, I've never posted the list here on my own blog. Until now.

The impetus for this monumental undertaking is twofold: first, an email from an Asimov fan named Jim Syler asking about the date of "Satisfaction Guaranteed", and second, the recent publication of the first of Mickey Zucker Reichert's trio of novels featuring a young Susan Calvin, I Robot: To Protect.

Including Reichert's novel in the list, though, presents me with a bit of a problem, and I'd like to talk about it. Back when Asimov collected his robot stories in I, Robot in 1950, he set the stories very specifically in the years 1998 through 2052. He also established Susan Calvin's birth in the year 1982. Those would have seemed like safely distant future dates back in 1950, but the passing years have caught up with I, Robot, as they eventually do to all science fiction stories set in the future. The earliest of the stories, "Robbie", is now set in a 1998 that never was, and the 26-year-old Susan Calvin that Reichert is writing about would be living four years ago. When Reichert was faced with this problem, she decided (wisely I think) to push Calvin's birth forward twenty-seven years to 2009, and set the story in the year 2035.

So, how do I fit in Reichert's born-in-2009-Calvin novels into my list with the original born-in-1982-Calvin stories by Asimov himself? I've decided to place I, Robot: To Protect in 2008, which is where it would have gone if Reichert had kept to Asimov's original timeline, and note parenthetically that the novel sets itself in 2035. It's an imperfect solution, but the best I can come up with. And since the story "Satisfaction Guaranteed" has a similar dating problem, I'll do the same with it.

So, with all that out of the way, here is my current version of the Insanely Complete Robot/Foundation Fiction List, consisting of the date, the story title, and (where necessary), which Asimov collection it can be found in. Following Ed Seiler's lead, works in black are by Asimov himself; works in blue are by other writers with the approval of the Asimov Estate, and works in red are by other writers but are not necessarily canonical:

Now, not all of the dates listed above are what you might call canonical. Some of them are, but some are just wild-ass guesses on my part. Here's where they all came from:

“A Boy’s Best Friend”: Given the speed with which space is being explored and settled, a date of 1980 for the establishment of Lunar City seems reasonable. Assuming Anderson Senior was one of the original settlers, that places the story in 1995.

“Robbie”: Stated in I, Robot.

“Robot AL-76 Goes Astray”: After robots are banned from Earth in 2003-2007, before Susan Calvin joins US Robots in 2008.

“Insert Knob A in Hole B”: Before the use of robots on space stations, hence before “Reason”.

I Robot: To Protect: As stated in the novel, 2035. Based on Susan Calvin's age, given her birth in 1982, the story should take place in 2008.

I Robot: To Obey: As stated in the novel, 2036. Based on Susan Calvin's age, given her birth in 1982, the story should take place in 2009.

“Runaround”: Stated in I, Robot.

“Reason”: Six months after “Runaround”.

“Catch That Rabbit”: Six months after “Reason”.

“Liar!”: Stated in I, Robot.

“Satisfaction Guaranteed”: As stated in the story, takes place fifty years after World War II, i.e. in 1995. However, the characters have the same titles as in “Liar!”, and Susan Calvin is more knowledgable about emotions, so the story takes place after "Liar!". Also, Tony has more advanced vision than Dave in "Catch That Rabbit!"

“Balance”: Susan Calvin’s robotic servants flatter her in a manner similar to Herbie from “Liar!”, but she seems much more at ease with the idea, which places the story after “Liar!”

“Blot”: Story of the first exploratory mission to Miranda. Given a mission to Mars in 1998, a first expedition to Mercury in 2005, and bases on Titan in 2025, a mission to Uranus in 2026 seems reasonable.

“Little Lost Robot”: Stated in I, Robot.

“Cal”: Cal seems to be the prototype for the EZ robots of “Galley Slave”, so allowing a few years for the design and production of the latter places the story in 2031.

“Lenny”: Peter Bogart is now Senior Mathematician, so the story comes between “Little Lost Robot” and "Risk".

“Evidence”: Stated in I, Robot.

“PAPPI”: Immediately after “Evidence”.

“Risk”: Takes place ‘some years’ after “Little Lost Robot”.

“Escape”: Within a few months of “Risk”. (In I, Robot, "Escape" comes immediately after "Little Lost Robot", but logically, ought to come after "Risk".)

I, Robot: The links between the stories are set fifty years after Susan Calvin joins US Robots in 2008.

“Feminine Intuition”: Five years after Susan Calvin retires from US Robots in 2058.

“The Fourth Law of Robotics”: Susan Calvin’s great-niece has her job.

“Christmas Without Rodney”: Slighting reference to the 20th century suggests the story takes place in the 21st. Common use of robot servants suggests the latter part of the century, when the Frankenstein Complex has faded away.

“Kid Brother”: Acceptance of household robots on Earth dates the story to the same general era as “Christmas Without Rodney” and “Light Verse”.

Robots in Time: Stated in volume 1, Predator.

“Light Verse”: Features a robot that is capable of original artistic expression (as was Andrew Martin), at a time when robot servants are accepted (as was Andrew Martin). These both suggest that the story takes place near the beginning of The Positronic Man.

“Too Bad!”: Sometime in the 22nd century, before the creation of the simplified robots in “That Thou Art Mindful of Him”.

“That Thou Art Mindful of Him”: Takes place about two hundred years after US Robots is founded (i.e. circa 2182). Mentions that the Machines phased themselves out of existence a hundred years earlier (circa 2082).

“Carhunters of the Concrete Prairie”: The combination of interstellar exploration and robots places this story at the time of the settlement of the Spacer worlds.

The Positronic Man: Andrew Martin is about a hundred years old “nearly two centuries” after Susan Calvin’s death in 2064.

“Mother Earth”: Takes place at the end of “the first few centuries of interstellar travel” when the Outer Worlds “were controlled, politically and economically, by Earth.” (quotations from The Caves of Steel, Chapter 5).

The Caves of Steel: Takes place a thousand years after emigration to the Outer Worlds ends. It also takes place 19 years after Elijah Baley first meets Jessie Navodny “back in ’02.”

The Naked Sun: Takes place one year after The Caves of Steel.

“Mirror Image”: Takes place one year before The Robots of Dawn i.e. one year after The Naked Sun.

“Strip-Runner”: Takes place after Elijah Baley starts his Outside group, but shortly before The Robots of Dawn (since the events in that novel aren’t mentioned in the story).

The Robots of Dawn: Takes place two years after The Naked Sun.

Robot City: Takes place about twenty years before Robots and Empire (Han Fastolfe is still alive, and the number of Settler worlds is smaller than in RaE).

Robots and Aliens: Takes place one year after Robot City.

Mirage: Features older versions of characters from the Robot City series, but takes place before the disappearance of the Solarians in Robots and Empire.

Chimera: Takes place one year after Mirage.

Aurora: Takes place one year after Chimera.

Have Robot, Will Travel: Takes place five years after Aurora.

Robots and Empire: Takes place two hundred years after The Robots of Dawn.

Caliban: Takes place a century after the Solarians vanish.

Inferno: Takes place one year after Caliban.

Utopia: Takes place five years after Inferno.

The Stars, Like Dust: Takes place a thousand years after Earth suffers nuclear bombardment (perhaps in an attack by the more conservative Spacer worlds).

The Currents of Space: Takes place five centuries before the founding of the Galactic Empire. (Note: Foundation’s Edge takes place about 22,000 years after interstellar travel begins, i.e. 24,000 CE. This is 12,566 years after the founding of the Galactic Empire, which sets the Empire’s foundation around the year 11,500. For no good reason, I’ve chosen 11,585 CE for the year 1 GE.)

Pebble in the Sky: Stated in the novel.

“Blind Alley”: Stated in the story.

Prelude to Foundation: Stated in the novel.

“Eto Demerzel”: Eight years after Prelude to Foundaton.

Foundation’s Fear: Shortly after “Eto Demerzel”.

“Cleon I”: Ten years after “Eto Demerzel”.

“Dors Venabili”: Ten years after “Cleon I”.

“Wanda Seldon”: Ten years after “Dors Venabili”.

Foundation and Chaos: Same time as “The Psychohistorians”.

“The Psychohistorians”: Takes place two years before Hari Seldon’s death in 12,069 GE.

25 comments:

Sweet! Thanks for this awesome resource. A few thoughts (by the way, I'm the Jim Syler mentioned in the original post):

a) No green?b) I think you've made the right decision about dating, especially with the Reichert novel. I think my inclination about "Satisfaction Guaranteed" is to stick with the authorial dating and place the story in, say, 2000 (allowing for some wiggle room in what "fifty years" might mean) and not try to fix the inconsistencies that Asimov created. However, your intention here is to present a chronological reading (or should I say rereading, as I would not recommend someone read these for the first time in this order) order that makes sense, so I understand why you've done it this way.c) I think some stories unavailable elsewhere in current print editions (such as "Insert Knob A in Hole B") are available in Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories. I don't have a copy, however, so I can't verify this.d) As I noted above, I would not recommend that the uninitiated read these stories in this order the first time, as some major spoilers would be given away. Might it be possible to put publication dates in this list, and/or create a similar list ordered by publication date? If you don't, I may get around to it at some point :)

And perhaps you should consider some Amazon links for the books listed here. I'm probably going to buy some of these books to round out my collection and I'd be happy to give you an Amazon commission along the way...

And since I'm here, let me retract what I said above about "Satisfaction Guaranteed." I hadn't realized that Calvin was still an undergraduate in 2000, making that an impossible date. Your way is best.

Hey Johnny, I have been reading this entire "series" on and off for a few years. With much cross referencing, I believed I had the entire collection as a whole. Your list has now added seven more stories to that very collection. A big shout out to you! There are a few other items of interest that you may want to look into as a continued part of Asimov's world pertaining to this growing series. 1) "Grow Old Along With Me" which is the original version of "Pebble In The Sky" found in the book The Alternate Asomovs, 2) Historical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury as a novella 1995, 3) Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury as a full length novel 2001. Hope to hear from you soon and a big thank you again to your most honorable list. :D

@Calion: There is a much older version of Johnny's amazing list (from 11/01!) at: http://mysite.verizon.net/beyond_asimov/fictionlist/index.htmlIt's the version that includes the fan-fiction works. Frankly, it just clutters up an already lengthy list. But it is fun to look at! You can also find copies of the fan-fiction in the list at the base of my site. Some of the pages are broken, but still readable. I have no intention of fixing, adding to, or updating the site. Just thought I'd post the link for anyone interested in an old site.

I have read the robot and foundation novels a few times now and have always wanted to read them in a "historical" order. It will take me some time to track down some of these stories, but anything worth while is worth taking the time to do right. Thank you for the time and effort in producing this list. I look forward to the future.

Hm. Nor is "The Tercentenary Incident." I presume that this and "Segregationist" are not thought of as in the Foundation timeline. Perhaps (probably) you've looked at it more closely than I, but I don't see anything in those stories that contradicts canon timeline.

I mention this because I'm trying to put together a "reading order" for those new to the Foundation Universe. It seems to me that neither chronological nor publication order will do. Chronological order gives away spoilers, and strict publication order is unnecessarily disjointed.

It's important to remember that not all of Asimov's positronic robot stories fit into the Susan Calvin/R. Daneel timeline. "Let's Get Together" and "Victory Unintentional" are two examples.

I don't include "Segregationist" because the reference to robots gaining citizenship seems at odds with the series. Andrew Martin achieved it, but he was uniquely exceptional (which is what made his story worth telling).

The political situation in "The Tercentenary Incident" is different enough from that in the Susan Calvin stories that I don't think it fits in.

As for the Multivac stories, they don't really fit into a coherent timeline. Asimov would just use whatever background fit the needs of each particular story, without worrying about whether the stories as a whole were internally consistent.

And yes, I did notice that the "publication" of the I, Robot framing story is set four or five years after the narrator's interviews with Calvin.

Something's gone wrong with the formatting. You seem to be missing carriage returns after several entries, including "Blot," "Lenny," “The Fourth Law of Robotics," “Carhunters of the Concrete Prairie," and The Positronic Man.

Great work, making this list available, thank you for doing so.One question: shouldn't be "The End of Eternity' at the top of the list?If I remember correctly the story of the eternals was reverenced to by RDaneel.

In the linking narrative in the collection "I, Robot", Susan Calvin says "When I was born, young man, we had just gone through the last World War. It was a low point in history - but it was the end of nationalism. Earth was too small for nations and they bgan grouping themselves into Regions."

Asimov wrote this in 1950 and he is clearly not referring to the Second World War, but to another war that ended near to Susan Calvin's birth, i.e. about 1980.

The war referred to as fifty years before "Satisfation Guaranteed would be this same war. (In which case, the reference to it as "World War Two" is an error in the text.) That would place "Satisfation Guaranteed" around 2030.

This is ana amazing work! I strongly encourage you to copy it into Wikipedia (without you explicit persmission to copy, we can only link to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov%27s_Robots_and_Aliens )

This is bloody amazing! I like to read series in chronological order and I was going through pains to try and work out the order of all the Asimov books (including the non-canonical ones), but you have saved me a long job.

Can I ask you about the "works in blue are by other writers with the approval of the Asimov Estate, and works in red are by other writers but are not necessarily canonical" comment?

I'm not clear on what you consider the distinction between these stories by writers other than Asimov himself, except that some were written and published while he was alive, which I would assume he himself would have authorized.

I don't know the extent to which he involved himself in reviewing the actual books - although it would seem to make sense that he'd want to make sure the books remained faithful to the spirit of his own stories, if for no other reason that to preserve the 'franchise value' of his own name.

Your quote tends to make it sound as if the titles listed here in red might be somehow LESS canonical than the ones authorized by the Asimov Estate, whereas to my mind, if anything, the opposite would be true - I would tend to view those works by other writers written under license issued by Asimov himself as MORE canonical than those written after his death, in which he could have NO possible involvement.

I think the ROBOT CITY and ROBOTS & ALIENS books could certainly be considered "more authorized" than those that were written and published after Asimov's death, and thus are more likely to be considered canonical. FOUNDATION'S FRIENDS might be more likely to be an exception to that, due to the nature of the stories as 'tributes' to Asimov's fictional universes.

But really if you're just calling anything NOT written by Asimov himself "not necessarily canonical", there's nothing wrong with that. I just question why the separation of red and blue? Shouldn't ALL the titles from CALIBAN by Roger MacBride Allen onward be considered as "authorized by the Asimov Estate" in the legal sense, even if it doesn't specifically state that in the publisher's indicia for the book?